MADRID — The recent Brexit trade deal generated relief in Britain and the European Union, but some issues were left on the negotiating table — including what to do about Gibraltar, the British territory at the southern tip of Spain whose sovereignty has long been disputed by Madrid. On Thursday, the Spanish…
Month: December 2020
More than 500 vaccine doses were left out to spoil on purpose by a hospital employee.
An employee at a Wisconsin hospital intentionally removed more than 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine from refrigeration last week, rendering them useless, the hospital system said Wednesday night. The employee’s motive is unclear. The hospital, the Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wis., notified the local police department, which is investigating the incident,…
A German Town Warily Considers a Future Without a Deep U.S. Presence
VILSECK, Germany — There is a bar here called “Cheers,” and there are Halloween parties, decorated houses and trick-or-treating in October and turkeys at Thanksgiving. The mayor’s childhood memories include Hershey’s bars, jars of peanut butter and Wrigley’s gum. For seven decades, the rituals and rhythms of American life have interwoven with…
Are Backlinks Still Important for SEO in 2021?
Backlinks are still important for SEO performance because they are the foundation of Google’s original PageRank algorithm. There have been countless independent studies in the SEO industry proving the impact of backlinks on organic search performance. Now here’s the cool part: We’ve gathered all of these industry studies in one spot for…
The Amazon Stats That Every Retailer Should Know
In 1994, Jeff Bezos quit his job and set up Amazon in his garage. A year later, the first item was purchased from Amazon – a book. Within 30 days, it had made $20,000 per week in sales across 45 different countries. 25 years later, and Amazon is a household name. It…
What is a Quality Backlink? 8 Key Indicators to Look For
High-quality backlinks have 8 characteristics including relevance, traffic, authority, link profile quality, editorial standards, outbound link quality, indexation, and anchor text. In this guide, I’ll dive into each of those qualities so you only get the highest quality backlinks imaginable. Let’s dive in. 8 Characteristics of Quality Backlinks 1. Relevance You should…
Norway Landslide Injures 10 and Leaves 15 Missing
A landslide in a village about 30 miles northeast of Oslo injured at least 10 people and left 15 missing on Wednesday, according to the local news media. At least six people in the village of Ask were hospitalized and up to 200 were evacuated, the mayor said, according to Verdens Gang,…
England moves closer to full lockdown with millions more placed under the country’s tightest restrictions.
On the same day that Britain’s regulators gave emergency approval to the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, millions more people in England were told they will be placed under the country’s tightest regulations starting Thursday. Three quarters of the country’s population will live under England’s toughest virus…
How Argentina Bucked Tradition in Latin America and Legalized Abortion
Latin America has long been hostile terrain for abortion rights advocates, even in recent decades as legal abortion became accessible in most of Europe, North America and other parts of the world. But a grassroots feminist movement claimed a victory in Argentina on Wednesday when the Senate legalized abortion in a surprisingly…
Croatia Hit by Strong Earthquake
At least one person was killed and a town in central Croatia was left in ruins after a powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey and local officials. The full extent of casualties was not known. There were reports that the quake, which hit just after noon…
U.K. Virus Surge Surpasses Spring Peak as Lockdown Choices Loom
LONDON — About half of England is under the nation’s strictest lockdown measures, and people have been ordered to stay at home, but the coronavirus is still spreading at an alarming rate. Hospitals are treating more patients than at any time during the pandemic, the number of new infections has set a…
New Data Triples Russia’s Covid-19 Death Toll
MOSCOW — After months of questions over the true scale of the coronavirus pandemic in Russia and the efficacy of a Russian-developed vaccine, the state statistical agency in Moscow has announced new figures indicating that the death toll from Covid-19 is more than three times as high as officially reported. From the…
Loujain al-Halthloul, Saudi Rights Activist, Gets Prison Sentence
Women in Saudi Arabia have been allowed to drive since the kingdom lifted the ban in June 2018, one of the historic social reforms inaugurated over the last few years by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman. Under the crown prince, the kingdom has encouraged women to…
The Most-Read Stories of 2020
Want to get The Morning by email? Here’s the sign-up. Good morning. We’re looking back on the stories that drew the most readers this year. What were the most-read stories in The New York Times this year? You may not be surprised to learn that two topics — the election and the…
Revisiting the Unseen Corners of the World
At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, with travel restrictions in place worldwide, we launched a new series to help transport you, virtually, to some of our planet’s most beautiful and intriguing places. This week, after 40 installments, we look back at some of the highlights — from hat-making workshops in Ecuador and…
Ex-Military Officers Criticize Spain’s Government and Praise Franco
MADRID — Earlier this month, 271 former members of Spain’s armed forces used the anniversary of the country’s Constitution to issue a manifesto criticizing the left-wing coalition government and warning that Spain’s unity was under threat. The manifesto was published shortly after chats were leaked to the Spanish news media in which…
New Year’s Eve Playlist From Around the World
Around the world, New Year’s Eve is going to look very different this year, but the applause and cheers at midnight might have a level of catharsis not seen for awhile. People will certainly be celebrating 2020’s passing. And these celebrations, whether with a small group of friends, household members only or…
Central and Southern California Have 0 Percent I.C.U. Capacity
California, the wealthiest and most populous state of the world’s wealthiest country, has long had a dearth of hospital beds — just 1.8 beds per 1,000 people, according to 2018 data compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Now a record-shattering slew of coronavirus cases has wiped out intensive care unit capacity in…
Snail, Fish and Sheep Soup, Anyone? Savory New Finds at Pompeii
ROME — Wine turned white with crushed fava beans. A soupy concoction of snails, sheep and fish. If these don’t sound particularly appetizing today, they appear to have been all the rage in ancient Pompeii, as evidenced by ancient leftovers found during excavations this month at the archaeological site of the former…
Truck Jam Eases at U.K. Port Days After France Reopens Border
LONDON — A huge truck jam at the Port of Dover in England eased further on Saturday, days after France lifted a border blockade imposed over fears of a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus that has already been transmitted to continental Europe and Japan. As many as 6,000 trucks had lined up…